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Langdon Building - Group Classification

Location 351- 355 King Street, MELBOURNE VIC 3000 - Property No B1701 File Number B1701 Level State

[1/1] B1701 HJ.Langdon 351-355 King

Statement of Significance

Built and owned by Robert Kidd in the period 1856 (351 King St) to 1869 (355 King St), this house and shop group is imporant because of its age (commenced in Victoria's gold boom era), the facing material used (Basalt masonry) and the relationship its earliest section has with the notable Fenwick buildings to the south. Used as an early clothing factory, it was eclipsed and complemented by the Phoenix Clothing Factory adjoining and combined with this building to provide a fine early commercial and residential streetscape.

Of secondary interest is its ownership by the Langdon Company when the architectural connoisseurs, the Freeman Brothers (co-founders of the National Trust) and Langdon, appear to have had a hand in saving valuable elements removed from notable demolished buildings.
Classified: 18/6/1990
Also part of Group Classification with B6118 - 347-345 King Street

Group Statement of Significance: 351-355 and 347-349 King Street, Robert Kidd's buildings (351-5) and the Fenwick Brothers Complex (347-9) were both built in the period between the gold rush of the early 1850s and the development of the colony's secondary industries in the 1870s. Parts of each complex relate to both important historical phases, in particular the former Phoenix Clothing Factory at the rear of 347-9 King Street and Isaac Davidson's clothing factory at the rear of 355 King Street. These early factories share a party wall, were once united via twin archways, and are still linked by a pitched loading lane from King Street.

In King Street, the early date of the facade (1857 and 1856-9) distinguishes them among commercial streetscapes elsewhere in Melbourne and compares directly with the notable basalt stores of King Street South.